[SOLVED] 4790K static vs adaptive voltage.

mafi

Distinguished
Oct 15, 2008
59
0
18,530
I have a core i7 4790k and Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard.
By default settings, the CPU runs at 4.4 Ghz on all cores when turbo boost is enabled.
The problem is that CPU voltage is automatically adjusted in BIOS at 1.28V which is way too high. In full load HWMonitor shows 1.30V
Then I manually adjusted the core voltage to 1.2V from BIOS. I ran Aida64 for several hours without any errors. HWMonitor shows 1.22V in full load.

Intel Extreme Tuning Utility gives the option to change the core voltage from static to adaptive. If I set the voltage to static, CPU-Z and HWinfo64 show 1.2V in both iddle and full load while HWMonitor shows 0.75-0.8V in iddle and 1.22V in full load. Which one is right and which one is wrong ? Is the voltage static or it's still adaptive as HWMonitor says ?

If I set the voltage to adaptive, all of them show 0.75-0.8V in iddle. In full load, CPU-Z and HWinfo show 1.28V and HWMonitor 1.30V.
No matter what voltage I set manually from BIOS, the CPU runs at 1.3V in full load with adaptive voltage which is a lot more than it needs to be stable.
 
Solution
Here is all you may want to know about voltages and risk.

At the end of the day, I think you are good now.
Adaptive voltage reduces the voltage when it is not needed; that is good.
1.3v under full use seems to be ok.
Remember, normal work will not be 100% use 24/7.
Your chip should be well obsolete before it wears out.
Here is all you may want to know about voltages and risk.

At the end of the day, I think you are good now.
Adaptive voltage reduces the voltage when it is not needed; that is good.
1.3v under full use seems to be ok.
Remember, normal work will not be 100% use 24/7.
Your chip should be well obsolete before it wears out.
 
Solution

mafi

Distinguished
Oct 15, 2008
59
0
18,530
Here is all you may want to know about voltages and risk.

At the end of the day, I think you are good now.
Adaptive voltage reduces the voltage when it is not needed; that is good.
1.3v under full use seems to be ok.
Remember, normal work will not be 100% use 24/7.
Your chip should be well obsolete before it wears out.

I ran Aida64 for more than 3 hours with no errors at 4.4 Ghz with 1.18V manually set from BIOS.
Adaptive voltage is overvoling the CPU in full load.
 

Karadjgne

Titan
Ambassador
It's a Haswell. 1.3v is the limits considered safe for vcore. Keeping it down to @ 1.2v is advised. Just be aware of the differences in what is considered vcore, may or may not be listed as cpu voltage, VID, package voltage etc. There's no industry standard, although there should be.